"BROKEN THINGS"
Psalms 51:17
In our daily talk, you as well as I speak without too much thought about ?broken things'
OUR QUICK-FIX SOCIETY
In our "quick-fix & discard" throw-away oriented society, how do we usually treat things when they break?
We throw them away!
They are discarded!
Even newborn babies when not wanted we abort & discard.
MAN-MADE THINGS FAIL
Someone told me one time just before taking a plane trip, that "you can be assured that everything made by man will at some point fail, or break" That was real assuring as I checked out the rivets next to my window seat during that flight.
Brokenness is a part of life and we all will experience it at some point in our life
TYPES OF BROKEN THINGS
We speak of:
'broken hearts',
'broken promises,'
'broken marriages,'
'broken families,'
'broken bones,'
what else? Even suicide is a form of mental breakdown
We don't look at it in this light, but "humans break".
I've noticed over the years that when it comes to certain things in life, we differ from God as to the way we look at them.
Brokenness is one of those things
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BROKENNESS MISUNDERSTOOD
When it comes to brokenness we usually only see the painful side of it and never see the growth or strength we gain by going through it, when it happens, yet God has given us many illustrations from life to help our understanding.
Stop for a moment and look at these things in nature:
EXAMPLES:
1. In order for a horse to be used for anything by man it has to be broken!
2. Even the gardener knows that for useless garbage can be any good it has to undergo a biological breakdown to become compost.
3. The physician knows that when a bone breaks in the arm or leg, that the healing weld around the break, makes that bone stronger.
4. The body builder and athlete practice and practice, breaking down tissue creating greater muscle mass to excel, as we have seen this past week in olympic competition.
As a High school junior and senior I used to swim 80 laps of the school pool every night (equalling a mile) developing my lung capacity, and strengthening my arms and legs, so when I had to swim shorter distances in competition it was easy to go all out and win.
When I accepted the Lord and for many years thereafter I misinterpreted scripture and thought that the Christian life was without hardship if you were a child of God. Boy was I ever mistaken!
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Have you ever stopped to think about happiness and hardship?
___We don't grow spiritually through happiness!
___We grow through crisis times and hardship!
Timothy tells us to endure hardship as a soldier of Christ... No as good soldier. There is a difference!
I know I'm a more compassionate person today, only because the Lord allowed me to go through some hardship (the school of hard-knocks) that taught me to be more compassionate toward others.
The only person God can use for His Glory is one who has been broken.
The Old & New Testaments both are filled with the men who went through brokenness before they were used of God. The stories of Job, Joseph, Abraham, Jonah, David, Israel itself, Peter & Paul all went through periods of brokenness.
The book of Judges relates the story of ?broken' pitchers to bring about a victory fo Israel over the Midianites.(Judges 7:15-20)
Even Luke gives us an account where a roof was ?broken up' to get a man to Christ to be healed
(Mark 2: 3) Harley, Marley, Farley, Charlie & Clyde (borne of four)
God's way and mans way differ when dealing with brokenness. God doesn't throw us out or away when we're broken. As in the poem footprints, He carries us and sees us through it even if we can't ourselves.
David the Psalmist experienced the meaning of "He restoreth the soul" when seeking Gods grace and favor from a repentent sin sick condition. Read Psalms 32
dws/2006/ggf
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